State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) responsible for the administration of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program (WOTC) are working diligently to process retroactive and current WOTC program certification requests.

The US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration is now issuing the balance of FY2016 funding in the amount of $14,856,655 to the SWAs for the implementation of the WOTC program activities through September 30, 2016. The appropriated level for FY2016 totals $18,485,000.

With these funds, the SWAs administers the certification process, promotes the program to employers, reduces and eliminates backlogs, including investing in technology to automate the process and report program data on a quarterly basis.

On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed into law the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the PATH Act), which retroactively reauthorized the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program (WOTC) for a five-year period, from January 1, 2015 – December 31, 2019. Also, on December 18, 2015, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L> 114-113) was signed into law, which provides Department of Labor funding appropriations for the remainder of FY2016.

The US Department of Labor and US Treasury Department have not issued any notices (i.e. TEGL) regarding the final regulations on long-term unemployment target group, ETA forms, and employer filing relief period.